Marooned
The true story of Cornishman Robert Jeffery
by James Derriman
In 1807 a British naval captain, Warwick Lake, marooned an 18-year-old member of his crew from Polperro, Cornwall, on the tiny uninhabited island of Sombrero in the West Indies. The seaman, Robert Jeffery, escaped to the USA but when the news reached England, a search was ordered by Parliament and even the prime minister of the time was involved. The lad was brought home to his family, compensated in part by Lake who was himself dismissed from the service. This extraordinary but true story based on original research is told in Marooned, first published in 1991 and now updated in this new, revised and fully illustrated edition.